health – GUTSy Performance Nutrition

Like many people, I personally love to eat the same or fairly similar food every day for breakfast.
My go to is oatmeal.

And at the same time, as a nutritionist, I’m often preaching diversity of meals and foods on the daily.
Counter-intuitive? It seems.

Though I’ll caveat that my morning oatmeal is not the same everyday. I have a general formula and then standard variations and seasonal/weekly/daily changes which I do that end up leading to a fair amount of diversity. I’ll share more about that soon because oatmeal, or whole-grain porridge in general, really is an underrated super meal.

But today isn’t all about oatmeal because…

I went and had a baby who is now a toddler. With opinions!

And he got tired of oatmeal every day.

I was also trying to start him off with a diverse diet. So early on, his morning meal was in some ways more diverse than mine. Because while I might be firmly on the porridge train, I’m probably never going to eat amaranth or quinoa-based porridge on a regular basis. Oats are by far the preferred breakfast grain.

After Bee began having opinions about his too-similar breakfasts – and me completely forgetting how to make him anything other than oatmeal or simple scrambled eggs – I came up with a simple framework to keep breakfast changing up throughout the days and weeks.

I share this because too often, I hear you too get tired of the same old thing! But it’s so easy to default to the usual without some inspiration, a little guidance, and a plan. So I’ll share ours with you.

Our Weekly Breakfast Routine

Bee always has a fresh fruit offering, which he gets to snack on while we are preparing breakfast and getting morning chores done. Then,
Monday is Toast Day: Usually avocado and “toast” with some nut butter and possibly yogurt on the side.
When I say toast, I mean not-toast currently. We do soft “steamed” whole grain sourdough instead of dry, crunchy bread.
And I choose Monday for toast day because Bee favors bread when it’s freshly baked. I’m most likely to bake on the weekend and/or we pick up bread from a bakery then.
Tuesday is Oatmeal/Porridge Day: Babies and young toddlers need more fat than adults, so Bee’s oatmeal is cooked in a high calorie milk with dates and the same spices I choose that day. We currently have to do non-dairy milk for him, but it’s nutritionally similar to cooking his oats in whole milk. Then he has my omega-3 seed and nut butter rotation of the day stirred in. I usually don’t add other fruit (which I’ll stew into my oatmeal) because he is already eating fresh fruit beforehand. But it will usually be the same fruit for both of us.
Wednesday is Muffin Day: There will be some sort of baby/young toddler appropriate mini muffins (no sugar added/whole grain), yogurt, and maybe something else. Avocado on the side or perhaps leftover oatmeal so he has a choice if muffins aren’t favored that day.
Thursday is Egg Day: Usually scrambled and they will have at least one other thing to pair with them. Avocado, toast again, or perhaps yogurt so there are options. Some days I sprinkle in some moringa powder so he has a tiny punch of super nutritious greens. Some days he could eat eggs and only eggs – and lots of them. Some days, he won’t touch the eggs beyond an initial bite that he spits out.
Other weeks I might instead do a quick tofu scramble instead.
Friday is Pancake Day: I tend to rotate between a few different pancake recipes, some savory, some very very simple. But my internal rule/reminder is to do something different than the week before.
If I’m all out of ideas, I do a simple three-ingredient baby weaning pancake which includes one egg, a banana, and a ¼ cup of quick oats (or oat flour). My pancake recipe tends to be frequently in the rotation, as are any of the many pancakes from Green Kitchen Stories‘ books.
Saturday and Sunday are “free for alls:” Meaning, usually Bee’s father is also having breakfast with him and eggs are likely offered again. Sometimes French toast will feature. Usually there’s another batch of oatmeal made. Leftover pancakes are also likely to happen.

Are there repeat foods and ingredients with this plan?
Absolutely. It’s not perfect.

Why Diversity is Important

Without dealing with an individual case, the number one thing I’d recommend for achieving or maintaining balanced health through diet is eating diversely with primarily plant-foods. Doing so feeds beneficial gut microbes through the plant fibers, and those microbes then make short chain fatty acids — which are key to balanced health — both in the gut and digestive system and beyond!

Ideally, eating diversely starts early and continues throughout life, but there’s absolutely no wrong time to start rotating in different types of foods and ingredients. And, even if you like “the same” type of food every day, there’s still room to opt for diversity. Stay tuned for my routine spin on changing up oatmeal soon.

Until next time ~ Rebecca

p.s. It’s been quite a while since I’ve posted a blog here, but I’m still balancing that baby/toddler with work in the nutrition clinic with clients. Reach out to me if individual sessions are of interest. And if you’d like to sign up for my periodic newsletter, you can do so here.

The author fueling on the run, Oct. 2023

I recently shared a primer on training the gut and fueling during exercise in Part I of this training the gut and fueling athletic activities series. This is a both a performance as well as digestive health topic that’s pertinent to endurance athletes, and particularly runners. As many athletes are beginning their early season race training, it’s a good time to start practicing and dialing in nutrition, because it will significantly impact performance for the months going forward.

Last time in part I, we laid the groundwork for what training the gut is and why it is important, as well as a brief discussion on under-fueling, both during exercise and throughout the day, and its consequences.

Today, we’ll delve a little deeper into how much fuel you should be consuming during exercise, and what factors might affect how much and what type of additional nutrition you take on while moving.

How much to Fuel During Exercise

You may have read that elite athletes such as professional cyclists on the world tour level are now aiming to ingest upwards of 120 g/h of carbohydrates. This is true and a showcase of what is occurring at the top end of performance fueling, as well as what’s needed to compete at an elite level. This is also what is most helpful for performance during intense ultra endurance events where athletes spend upwards of six hours on the bike, often at tempo or threshold efforts for much of that time.

For you, what’s important to remember is that your need for and rate of carbohydrate use depends largely on intensity. If you are exercising at a lower intensity, which is more common in many athletes and those doing longer races, you will likely need less carbohydrates. Similarly, how long you will be racing matters. A short but intense half marathon will require less carbohydrates per hour than a marathon that’s raced at similar but slightly lower intensity. That means instead of aiming for 120 grams per hour of carbohydrates, there is a large range depending on intensity and time, to the tune of 30-90+ grams of carbohydrate consumed per hour.

So the answer as to “how much” will depend on your race distance, how long you’ll take to complete that distance, weather, and other factors such as your fuel tolerance, gut training, and practicality.

You can find any number of articles on the internet giving specifics of how much you should fuel per hour during your particular goal distance. But these are broad numbers and aren’t specific to you. For specifics for your situation and performance goals, it is always best to work with a knowledgeable sports nutrition professional. See the end of this article for more information about individual consultations.

The author fueling on the run, circa 2014.

What Types of Fuel During Exercise

Now, what about the choice of fuel you choose to consume during exercise? I’ve met many athletes that say they prefer “real food,” whether that’s a small handful of raisins, dates or dried apricots, a banana, homemade nut butter and fruit bars, a rice cake (popular in cycling), or even something like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

On the flip side, there are ample sports nutrition products to choose from on the market–in many cases there are too many options–hence the confusion. There are “real food” gels, various sugar-containing gels, drinks and drink mixes, sport beans and candies, gummies and chews, and bars.

What you choose to consume during exercise will depend on your goals, your tolerance and gut training, convenience, and other factors like personal preference. For instance, if you’re aiming for an Olympic Trials qualifying time in the marathon, you’re likely going to be choosing a quick-absorbing carbohydrate fuel that’s convenient like a sports drink or gel.

If you’re training for a 100 mile ultra run, and your pace and intensity is much slower, you may opt away from gels altogether and make your own sweet potato and maple syrup packs, or even pack a PB&J, stop for a real meal at an aid station, etc.

And if you’re just out for a slow Sunday long run or ride, and you’re not currently gearing up for a target race, you might have a pocket full of dates, a banana, or a rice cake or homemade energy balls that contain both slower absorbing carbohydrates and perhaps some fat.

Based on how much you will be fueling per hour, the types of sugar in your chosen fuel will also start to matter, as there will be a need for carbohydrates from both glucose and fructose to increase absorption and utilization, once you start to consume above 45 grams of carbohydrates per hour (Rowlands et al 2015).

There is no right answer in terms of what fuel you choose–but there is a correct fuel for the purpose of that day, and for the amount of fuel you need for that day.

Fueling During Exercise and Its Effect on Digestion and the GI

Finally, let’s turn to the topic of fueling during exercise and how it affects both digestion and GI function more generally.

From research studies, we see that:

There is a greater reduction in markers of damage done to the lower GI –damage resulting in injury to the cells lining the small intestine and causing “leaky gut” or intestinal permeability, where larger molecules than ideal get through into the bloodstream and cause inflammation and symptoms–when athletes took in glucose compared to just water during two hours of running (Martinez et al, 2023).
There are improvements in carbohydrate malabsorption after two weeks of gut training with carbohydrate from a supplement during exercise (as opposed to taking in no carbohydrates or in that particular study, taking in carbohydrates from “real food”.)
There is a significant reduction in GI discomfort both during and after exercise in those that consume carbohydrates during exercise and have undergone gut training protocols.
Performance can be improved. From some field data from professional cycling teams, the higher the amount of carbohydrates that were taken per hour of exercise, the faster the finishing time of the athletes (Viribay, 2022)
- On this note, in a study of trained Mountain Trail Ultra runners consuming between 60 and 120 grams per hour of carbohydrate, there was a lower rate of perceived exertion when consuming 120 gr/hr CHO.
- Consuming the higher amount of carbohydrates during their race also lowered markers of muscle damage after the race for these athletes when compared to consuming lower amounts of carbohydrate. (Viribay et al, 2020)

So far in this series, we’ve shared about the dangers of under-fueling both during and outside of activity, the advantages of fueling and training the gut on both digestion and performance, a brief overview of how much and what type of fuels to consume, and the knowledge that for every person has unique variables to work with, so for best results, tailoring your fueling plan to your needs and race goals is best. In the coming weeks, I’m planning to continue this topic of fueling sports performance in more detail. Stay tuned!

Learn More

If you’d like to know more, I work with clients in individual nutrition consultations, and as a Licensed Dietician / Nutritionist and Certified Nutrition Specialist, use medical nutrition therapy, integrative health measures, and a root cause approach to heal imbalanced health conditions.

Conditions I specialize in include all digestive health imbalances and disorders, endurance athlete sports nutrition, vegan/vegetarian diets, intuitive eating, and autoimmune diseases.

If you’d like to learn more about how you can improve your symptoms of imbalance, I’d love to speak with you in a quick phone consultation!

References:

Martinez, I.G., Mika, A.S., et al. (2023). The effect of Gut-Training and Feeding-Challenge on Markers of Gastrointestinal Status in Response to Endurance Exercise: A Systematic Literature Review. Sports Medicine, 53, 1175-1200. doi:10.1007/s40279-023-01841-0.
Rowlands, D. S., Houltham, S., Musa-Veloso, K., Brown, F., Paulionis, L., & Bailey, D. (2015). Fructose-Glucose Composite Carbohydrates and Endurance Performance: Critical Review and Future Perspectives. Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.), 45(11), 1561–1576. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40279-015-0381-0
Viribay, A., Arribalzaga, S., Mielgo-Ayuso, J., Castañeda-Babarro, A., Seco-Calvo, J., & Urdampilleta, A. (2020). Effects of 120 g/h of Carbohydrates Intake during a Mountain Marathon on Exercise-Induced Muscle Damage in Elite Runners. Nutrients, 12(5), 1367. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu12051367
Viribay, A. (2022). “Training the gut in pro cycling and elite running.” WE Sports Nutrition Pre-Conference, 18 Oct. 2022.